Description:
Are you a published Illustrator who would like to transition from working digital to traditional media? Would you like to embrace more play in your work or connect your sketchbooks to the look of your final book art? Author/illustrator Suzanne Kaufman will walk you through her process of transitioning from making the New York Times Best Selling book, “All Are Welcome” to her three book journey in traditional media using the iterative tools of digital media. In this creative lab you will learn to merge the best of traditional media tools with your skills in digital to push your work to the next level. This workshop will walk you through the transition of simple setups that incorporate mid-century illustration techniques to more advanced techniques to connect your traditional experiments into your final book art.
Skill Level (Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced):
Intermediate
This lab is best for participants…
Who have published at least one book with a traditional publisher and whose primary tools for book-making are digital. Those who are looking to move into traditional media for future book projects will get the most from this Creative Lab.
Prerequisites and Advanced Preparation:
This Creative Lab is beneficial for Illustrators and Illustrator-Authors who feel comfortable working traditional or digital. However, because of time limitations, we will review case studies digitally so please ensure you arrive with a basic understanding of digital painting and photoshop along with your preferred digital tools – be it a laptop, iPad, or Wacom tablet. Suzanne will use Photoshop for her demos, but use what you're comfortable with. This is not a class on Photoshop or digital painting but the beginning of a journey to incorporate tradtional media into your work. Please note that Suzanne will not know the nuances of any other software and that this class is all about using digital tools to bring traditional media into your book work. Additional prerequisites include:
If you haven’t already, get comfortable in Photoshop using https://www.ctrlpaint.com/library
- Feel comfortable with digital tools like Photoshop
- Understand and be able to use Brushes, Layers, Masking, Layer Modes, Organizing files
- Come prepared to open PSD file examples
Schedule:
- Introduction (5 Minutes)
Part I Foundational Case Study: A Friend for Ghost (40 minutes)
- Embracing the process of play (aka failure)
- How to start the process of transition from digital to traditional
- Building iteration into traditional art processes
- Digital techniques of two-layer processes
- Demos of traditional processes and tools used in making the book
- Walk through shared digital file
- Q and A on case study
Part II: Intermediate Case Study: Hello Dog/Hello Human (40 minutes)
- Greyscale to digital color process tips
- Color tips inspiration for color
- How to build a character for iteration and play
- Risograph feel process
- Strategies for combining traditional media
- Demos of traditional processes and tools used in making the book
- Walk through a shared digital file
- Q and A on Case Study
- Break (15 minutes)
Part III: Traditional/Digital studio setup (40 minutes)
- Painting setup techniques
- Scanning techniques
- Process techniques
- Character first
- Build environment out of experiments
- How to choose the right medium
- How to setup the files for iteration
- How to use a mix of traditional/digital to save time on iterations for book dummies
- Q and A on case study
Part IV: Advanced Case Study: Blue (40 minutes)
- The power of value to sell a book dummy
- Character setup for iteration
- Advanced play techniques for designing backgrounds
- Process to stay loose with more advanced style and theme
- Advanced digital processes that leave room for iteration
- Digital painting tips for revising traditional work
- Demos of traditional processes and tools used in making the book
- Walk through shared digital file
- Final Q and A
Objectives:
Participants will:
- Have a roadmap to transition from digital to traditional media
- Analyze inspiration to build a process and pipeline for their next book
- Discover new ways to use materials to get more feeling into final art
- Leave inspired to experiment with tradional materials
- Expand their tools for visual storytelling
- Learn how to build a project that is traditional but still iterative for book making
- Learn how to connect their traditional work to their final book art
- Stay loose and keep the energy of traditional media
- Learn how to best use traditional and digital tools to create an organic creative process
- See examples and process for revising of traditional media digitally
- Have fun!
